Pork Chops at $4.99 or Brand Anthem?

There are clients who want to sell pork chops for $4.99, and are only ever going to creative work that sells pork chops for $4.99.

But of course the agency decide it is an excellent opportunity to create an amazing new brand campaign.

99.9% of the time , this scenario is going to end in a mess; too much time wasted, too much agency resource pointed needlessly in the wrong direction, too much course correction needed. It all smacks of irresponsible fiscal management and ends up with demotivated staff who don't feel confidence in what they are being asked to do ("here we go again").

Why not just recognise that this client wants to sell pork chops at $4.99? Wouldn't be better for the agency to devote its resources to answering the brief spectacularly well? Selling $4.99 pork chops can be done very creatively. Save the big brand anthem effort for the client who wants it.

Agencies are usually to blame for the mess. They really should know better. But clients aren't exempt from blame. By pandering to the agency's desires or not being clear about the task they are quite capable of bluring what should be a simple brief.

There is a very powerful lesson in this. Understand what the client is asking for, and what they are going to buy.

I mean if you asked a shop assistant for a yoghurt you wouldn't expect her to come back with some broccoli, would you?